


Theatre Technicians are basically Vampires

by NekoAbi



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Attacks, Blood, Gen, Heavy Injuries, None are particularly descriptive, Suicide, Talk of possible death, Vampires, mauling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-24
Updated: 2020-01-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:56:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22387558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NekoAbi/pseuds/NekoAbi
Summary: Six men live under one roof. They seem to have nothing in common, besides their chosen career paths, but there is one thread that ties them all together...
Comments: 2
Kudos: 32





	Theatre Technicians are basically Vampires

Logan adjusted his glasses as he flicked through the prompt copy of the script he’d spent the last few days completing. He had a video up on the computer screen adjacent to him showing footage of the final rehearsals before tech week was to begin, allowing him to add the final blocking notes to scenes that were fine-tuned just before the deadline. It had taken him a long time, likely multiple days, but it was rewarding work to see such flawless execution. Logan turned the final page and sat back in his chair, sighing contently.

Then a loud shout, a shuffling of feet and a thump from outside the study. It had been going on for a while now, but that last noise was the final straw. Logan pushed himself up from the chair, stretching out his arms as he walked across the room. He rested a hand on the door handle and steeled himself with a deep breath before swiftly opening it, “What is going on?”

The regret was immediate as was the slight throbbing of his head.

On the floor directly before him were two men, utterly motionless as they looked up at the man in the doorway. Three more figures scattered the room; one nervously chewing at his bottom lip as he stood over the two on the ground, one sat at the dining table with a glass in hand and an expression of light amusement, and the final one perched up on the kitchen counter, a smug grin pulling at his lips.

Logan put a hand to his head, massaging his temple, “Patton, tell me what happened?”

“Why do you ask him?! He’s not even involved!”

“Because, Roman, I expect he shall provide me with the fairest outlook of the entire situation. Both you and Remus would attempt to argue that your side was not at fault.” Logan flatly responded, eyes shifting down to the one pinned to the ground.

Roman, still entangled with Remus’ limbs, pouted harshly but quickly relaxed, “Alright, fair enough.”

“Well, Patton?” Logan absent-mindedly adjusted his glasses as he locked eyes with the other.

Patton stood up to full height and rocked back and forth on his feet, his own glasses slipping down his nose a little, “I’m not really sure of everything, but I did see Remus sneaking into the sewing room again and then I heard a crash before I could say anything or even try to stop him. Then he ran out and Roman followed. They kinda circled around the couch a few times, I tried to stop them! Honest, I did! But, Remus kinda got caught on the edge of the mat and tripped and fell down, and Roman couldn’t stop in time so he fell on top and then they started fighting and rolling around!” Patton clapped his hands together and put on his most innocent face, “I tried to separate them, Logan! But you know… they’re stronger than me…” His gaze fell to the side, as if he were ashamed of his ability.

“Patton, it’s alright. I didn’t expect you to stop it, but your attempt is very much appreciated. Thank you for telling me everything.” Logan couldn’t help the twitch his lips gave when his compliment made Patton’s sunny grin return full force. He quickly turned his attention to the two still on the floor, eyes narrowing, “You two. Up.”

The twins fought to scramble to their feet quicker than the other. Remus may have pushed Roman back onto the floor and Roman may have used Remus as a hand hold and squashed him down, but who could really say.

“If the floor is damaged yet again, you are the ones who are repairing it. It’ll be a fine use for your skills, I’m sure.” Logan offered a falsely pleasant smile as the two gaped at him.

A loud bark of laughter had everyone’s attention turning across the room over to the kitchen. “That’s the best awful idea you’ve had, L. Good thing I’ve got work for a while. Wish I could see the shit show from a safe distance though. Dee, take notes for me?” The glass holder nodded before taking another drink, “Sweet.”

Logan pulled the glasses from his face and cleaned them, “Virgil, have you received the file from the designer yet? I was told there were some issues in getting it to you.”

Virgil hopped down off the counter, holding his phone out towards Logan as he exited into the main body of the room, “Got it today, thank god. Or else I may have actually had a heart attack or something.”

“You say that as though it’s possible.” Dee pointed out smoothly, only watching Virgil out of the corner of his eye.

The standing man seemed to retreat into himself at the comment, “It’s just an expression, geez.” Virgil shoved his hands into the pockets of his hoodie, eyes cast downward in embarrassment, “Can’t say anything around here anymore… I’ll be in my room. Call me when it’s time to go.” With that, Virgil stalked off.

Just after the door shut behind him, Patton turned sharply to Dee and purposely crossed the room to stand in front of the still-indifferent man, “Dorian! You know not to provoke Virgil like that. That was mean and we’ve already had the talk about being mean! When you see him next, you will apologise, right?”

Dorian shrugged, but after he caught sight of Patton’s harsh father-like glare, he gently smiled and nodded his head in a bow, “Of course I will. I _promise._ ”

Patton narrowed his eyes suspiciously but seemed content enough to leave Dorian alone for now. He took a seat on the couch and stared at the dent in the floor.

Both Roman and Remus had vacated the room and headed into their own workspace once Virgil had begun to leave. It gave the remaining three a good look at the large dent in the floor. “Boy, it’s a good thing we own this place, huh? Imagine if we didn’t! Like what if we were on a floor above someone else! We’d be found for sure…” Patton blew out a breath, puffing his cheeks in the process, and cradling his chin in his hands. It bounced along with the alternating bouncing of his legs as his elbows rested atop his knees. Logan crossed to join him, seating himself alongside Patton.

“How is the script coming along? I saw you were up for a really long time.” Patton attempted to ask casually, trying his best to not to sound concerned.

“Patton. You are aware that none of us require sleep.” Patton went in for a rebuttal, but Logan continued, “To answer your question, the prompt copy is completed as much as it can be at this moment in time. Noting down every aspect of blocking takes a long time, but it is extremely satisfying to see the finished product.”

“As long as you’re happy with it, Lo. You are the one who needs it after all!” Patton giggled and grinned widely. “I hope to not have to give you too many things to add, but I’m not the designer so I can’t really promise anything! Though, from what I read, I can’t imagine there being that many cues, not like that one time where there were over 800. That was so crazy! I feel bad that you had to call all of those!”

Logan snorted lightly as he smiled, “You still surprise me, Patton. Your empathy and concern seems to have no limit, which is admirable…”

Dorian downed the final part of his drink and placed the glass back onto the table almost soundlessly. “I would just love to stay here and watch the two of you. Unfortunately, I have to prepare myself for the day’s work ahead. I shall see you later.” He headed into his own room, leaving the two spectacled men alone.

“I almost can’t believe it’s been so long… I mean, 689 years is a really long time! I wonder how they feel…” Patton’s eyes drifted towards the twins’ doors.

“I am confident in saying that they are more than accustomed to their lives now. There is nothing to be worried about.”

“But… why do they fight? Even after what happened?”

“Uh, well… likely because they are siblings. It is a common thing, to fight.”

Patton hummed, “I guess… Still, I would think that Remus would be more careful with him… I mean, he did save him and all…”

Logan had no response to Patton’s musings. The twins had been turned years ago in a horrific incident. They had been living normal, unassuming lives when the tragedy struck.

Two creatures of the night infiltrated their home and found Roman sleeping soundly. They seized the opportunity and attacked but hadn’t accounted for there being another presence in the home. Remus had heard a bone-chilling screech of pain and fear followed by more screams of agony, so he rushed from his room to the source of the noise. Upon throwing the door open and calling for his brother, Remus was also attacked by one of the figures in an instant. Somehow, he managed to fend it off and it fled the scene once the mortal had swung a broken leg of a stool that was propped up nearby at it. Roman’s cries were no more, and Remus was having a hard time keeping his balance as he felt far too woozy to do much more than stumble over to the creature still looming over his brother.

Unbeknownst to Remus, the creature he’d scared off had been cut in the initial attack with the leg and a few droplets of blood had fallen between the man’s lips. It was quickly passing through his system, though he had no reason to be suspicious of a few small droplets of blood. It remained dormant until he was within reach of the second creature.

Remus doubled over in pain, feeling something changing about himself. He didn’t know what, but he did notice that his jaw was in pure agony for what felt like forever before dulling to a gentle throb. New instincts kicked in and Remus was reenergised. He knew immediately what he had become. Before taking a second longer to think, he threw himself at the other creature, tackling it to the ground with surprising strength. It quickly fled after its companion and Remus scrambled to his feet.

“Roman! Roman! Hey, say something!” Remus shook his brother roughly, trying in vain to get any kind of response out of him, but it was useless. Roman was fading fast, getting close to succumbing to death. His new instincts told Remus what to do. He used his sharp fangs to slice a cut on his finger and drip some of his blood into Roman’s open mouth.

Seconds felt like minutes as Remus waited to see if he had managed to act in time. He was about to try a second time when Roman coughed violently and curled up in pain, grasping as his mouth. A tear of relief slid down Remus’ cheek before he dived on top of Roman, cuddling him tightly as he wept. The brothers hadn’t moved for the rest of the night, both figuring out what they were going to do.

They were both years ahead of them all. At least they’d never been alone. A sad reality that faces most vampires.

“Logan? You still with me?”

“Huh?” Logan snapped back to the present, seeing Patton’s concerned face mere inches from his own. If he’d been able, he likely would have flushed at the closeness. Instead, Logan cleared his throat awkwardly, “Oh, yes. I apologise. It seems I got a little caught up in my thoughts, Patton.”

“No problem, Lo! Just wanted to make sure I hadn’t lost you is all.” Patton smiled warmly, settling back on the couch, turning his attention to the TV that sat directly opposite.

Time crawled on by, with the normal daily sounds filtering under the doors of the bedrooms all around them and the sounds of people beginning their days outside the window, mixed with the varying audio from the television. Eventually, Patton stretched out his limbs in front of him and made a loud noise to accompany it. He then stood, “It’s almost time to get going! I’m gonna grab my things. Want me to get yours too? Saves you getting up! I bet you have all your stuff in a bag already and all organised too!”

Logan graciously thanked Patton for the offer and took him up on it. He sat and continued to simply exist in the living area. It was quite strange to think that he and Patton had met so many years ago, and that the twins had entered his life before even that. ‘ _I suppose time has little meaning to an immortal being..._ ’ Logan mused.

The door shutting and a small surprised yelp pulled Logan from his thoughts. Patton had gone over on his ankle by stepping in just the wrong place in the newly formed crater in the floor. Time slowed as Logan stood and sprinted over to Patton, catching him before he hit the floor.

“Are you alright?”

Patton seemed to falter for a second before grinning and hoping out of Logan’s arms, “Yup, all good! I’m gonna need to get used to that, haha!”

Logan narrowed his eyes, “That will not be necessary.” He stalked over to the two doors located directly next to each other and banged on them both loudly. Patton, behind him, was fretting and telling Logan it was fine, there was no need to interrupt them. But it was too late for that.

“What do you want?”

“Yeeeeees?”

Both doors opened almost simultaneously. Roman’s face held an annoyed pout, while Remus was grinning in an unhinged manner. However, both their expression faltered as they caught sight of the death glare Logan was giving both of them. “You will repair the floor today. You should have already dropped off your things, so you shouldn’t need to come along with us. If your presence is necessary, I shall call you. Do I make myself clear?” Both of them nodded sharply before slamming their respective doors upon Logan’s gesture.

“Right. Shall we fetch Virgil and Dorian? I believe it is time for us to head out.” Logan asked, completely softening as he looked back to Patton.

“Uh… y-yeah!” Patton agreed after a moment of hesitation. No one would dare argue with angry Logan. It had been a painful lesson for each of them to endure. Patton scurried off to Virgil’s room, knocking specifically before entering in order to let the man inside know it was him. Logan approached Dorian’s room and knocked significantly lighter before calling out to him.

Their odd quartet made their way through the streets, all huddling under their parasols. They used to get a fair few stares from the locals, but everyone had become accustomed to them by this point. Seeing the bright colours of Patton’s attire contrasted by the dark colours of Virgil’s, the oddly formal outfit of Logan’s alongside the more casual outfits of his companions, and all of this didn’t hold a candle to Dorian. He wore a veil over half of his face, completely shielding it from view. They always seemed to be in a rush as well, especially on extremely sunny days like today. But it was normal for them, so they managed to reach their destination without incident.

After dropping their belongings into their respective positions, three of them took up seats in the crew room and waited for the rest of their colleagues to show up. Logan was absent as he was doing last minute checks over at the prompt corner, preparing it to his liking. He did make an appearance before all the cast and crew once they had arrived in order to introduce himself and reaffirm the point of the technical rehearsal.

It went well. As well as the first day of technical rehearsal can go for such a large show. Logan had to call over comms multiple times to tell the director that the technical departments were not ready to continue on just yet as Patton was working to programme lighting for the entire show, and it was not as simple as programming a few washes to change. Virgil had several issues with QLab messing up and not playing the sound files correctly, meaning that it took an extended break to sort out the issue each time it occurred. The one who was least stressed was Dorian as he sat up on the fly floor each time there was a long break, which was basically after every scene change. Comms were particularly busy, and tensions were already rising in the theatre. Thankfully, they had the evening to go and cool off in order to come back the next day refreshed.

“Thank you Virgil.” Logan said, as Virgil signed off comms for the day. “DSM off cans.” He finished, just to be thorough, even though he’d already heard everyone else sign off. He hung the headset up on the prompt desk and ran his hands down his face, sighing heavily. His technical notes were a complete mess and it was already stressing him out, but nothing was truly set in stone yet so Logan couldn’t do much but wait. He groaned to himself before resting his forehead on the desk.

“Not doing so well?” Dorian’s voice called from behind, causing Logan to sit up sharply.

“Just a little stressed is all.” Logan said plainly.

“I can’t understand why at all. That director was just a ray of sunshine the whole time, never losing his temper once…” Dorian drawled sarcastically, crossing his arms.

Logan shh’d him, “Be careful what you say in here. He could hear you.”

“Not that he’d even know who I was, but I understand.” Dorian held his hands up in defeat, “I’ll attempt to be more careful from now on.”

“Thank you. Shall we head back home? I believe we could all do with a break from being here.” Logan suggested.

“I thought you’d never ask.”

The way home was far easier. The sun had already set and so they slowly meandered back to their joint home, venting their frustrations about the production on the way. Virgil was extremely outspoken, even going so far as to illustrate some of his threats with gestures that made Patton gasp in horror each time. It was a far cry from his quiet attitude during the work day, but no one minded.

As they walked, Logan watched Dorian out of the corner of his eye for a while. The veil was on the opposite side of him, meaning that Logan could at least see some of the man’s face. He’d only joined them recently – well, if you could count 125 years ‘recent’ – and there was still a level of trust they were yet to reach with him. They did know the reason he covered his face, however. His turning had not been easy. It had been a vicious attack by particularly ferocious vampire, who’d torn away at his face and neck for some unknown reason. Thankfully, Logan had been passing through the area nearby and came across the mauling. He fought off the attacker and helped Dorian, offering to ensure that he turned in order to save his life. Only Logan and Patton had seen the injury left from the attack and Patton had almost thrown up once he saw it. He apologised immediately, saying he didn’t expect it to be such a fresh wound and be so bad. Patton began crying and had hugged the man, but since that day, Dorian had kept the scarring hidden from all around him.

“Oh no you’re not! You’re sitting here and we’re having family time!” Patton’s stern voice alerted Logan to the fact they had already reached their home. He watched with vague amusement as Patton wrestled with Virgil in order to get him to sit in his chair before running over to fetch Roman and Remus. Dorian casually took a seat and gestured for Logan to join them.

Virgil groaned, “Why do we have to do family night? I just wanna go sleep and forget this day happened…”

“Virgil, c’mon!” Patton pleaded, puppy dog eyes in full effect, “Family night is important, and we can’t have family night without the full fam, now can we?”

“I dunno. Seems like you could, especially since I barely count anyway.”

Patton and Virgil continued to go back and forth whilst the twins took spaces on the couches.

“What are we doing for the family night?” Roman asked, brushing small pieces of thread onto the floor. In his hands, he held an in-progress sewing project. It was a small extra piece of costume that Logan had to inform Roman about as the director had demanded it be added – after yelling for five entire minutes about how it was crucial to the character or whatever.

“How about something _exciting!?_ ” Remus twisted up onto his knees from his cross-legged position on the floor, “Like strip poker, or truth or dare, or Russian roulette! I have a gun in the prop room, I can go get it ri-”

Patton squeaked, “No, no, no! Absolutely none of those! We’re playing a nice easy board game tonight!”

“Can’t wait to hate you all again.”

“Dorian! What did I say about being nice?”

“I don’t quite recall.”

Family nights had always been chaotic when only four of them had attended, but now that both Dorian and Virgil were opening up to them all a lot more, it was getting far worse… but not particularly bad. It was a chaos that encompassed them all and it made them feel, well, like a family. An odd, pieced together, hodgepodge of a family, but a family, nonetheless. Logan had given up hope a while ago about Virgil ever getting comfortable enough with them all to sit down like this. Let alone allow Patton to drag him in _and_ convince him to actually stick around.

The two had gotten off to a rocky start, and that was still an understatement.

Patton had been strolling through the woods nearby, stretching his legs and just enjoying some alone time after a hectic day of helping out the twins with their projects for an upcoming client. It was supposed to be peaceful and calming, but Patton got the shock of his life when he found a body hanging from a tree. As quick as he could, Patton got the young man down and checked for signs of life. There was a faint pulse, but not much else. As he was fretting about what to do, a flash of white caught his eye. A folded note was nailed to the tree the man had previously been in. It took only a sentence or two for Patton to realise it was a suicide note and that this had been self-inflicted, which only served to make Patton even more distraught. Here, before him, was a young man, with his entire life ahead of him, and he’d chosen to attempt to get rid of that life. Tears welled up and Patton acted rashly. A drop of blood later and Virgil began to turn.

Once he regained consciousness, he was a little confused. Patton explained what he’d done and started to tell him why, but Virgil lost his temper. He screamed and shouted, cursed and cried. He called Patton every name synonymous with stupid as well as more than a few unsavoury terms. Tears fell like rivers down his cheeks as he screamed his throat raw. Virgil then ran off into the forest. Patton couldn’t move for minutes afterwards. He was in a state of shock. No one had ever said anything like that to him. No one had said such harsh things. Least of all a stranger, someone Patton wanted to help. Silently, he cried. Patton walked back home and launched himself into Logan’s arms as soon as he could.

Weeks passed and not a soul had seen Virgil anywhere. After a short meeting, the four of them had decided to each take a night in rotation and search for him, but absolutely nothing had turned up. Until…

“I found hiiiiim!” Remus sing-songed, holding a squirming Virgil in his grip as he burst through the door one night.

From then on, Virgil had a room in their home. It took a long time, but he started to trust Logan, and then Roman, and then Remus. It took well over 100 years for Virgil to come to terms with what Patton had done and forgive him somewhat. But no one would ever have guessed that the pair had been at odds ever if they saw them now.

After a stressful day and a lot of reminiscing, Logan was thankful that his own turning was simple and boring. The same could be said for Patton’s, who had actually asked to be turned as he was dealing with some incurable illness at the time. But that was all in the past. Logan was here, in the crowded living room, with his five family members, playing some childish board game for entertainment. He wouldn’t have it any other way.


End file.
